Who is Jesus Christ??? -- According to Willis Propp!!!
April 12, 1992
Question from Dale - OK, may I ask you this question tonight? Now, that is one of the basic fundamentals that you believe that we have to understand, because there are other Jesus' and if we believe that “Jesus was God” that would be incorrect?
The reply from Willis Propp, (“Head Worker” of the Province of Alberta, Canada) in his own words.
Reply from Willis - The Catholics think they're one person, like the rosary prayer is holy Mary mother of God, holy Mary mother of God, and that is wrong because Jesus is not God. Jesus was the Son of God. John 8 says, I proceeded forth and came from God, I proceeded forth from God so He was the only begotten Son of the Father. He wasn't God, He was the Son of God.
Reply from Willis - Yes, if you look at the original of John 1:1 it says he was a god. He was divine.You cannot reconcile a father and a son as one person, you can’t do that.
Reply from Willis - We believe that somewhere back in the eternal past He proceeded forth from God and the bible doesn't tell us when but somewhere back in the eternal past He proceeded from his Father. He was with the Father in the beginning before the world was.
Reply from Willis - We believe in the resurrection of Jesus and when He prayed in the last night of his life, He wanted the same glory that He had with his Father before the world was. I just wanted to get you this verse where it says that they agree in one. You see, they are one in the sense that they are in total harmony. We like those three People we read about, Cornelius whose dealings was with the Father, and Saul, Saul of Tarsus, whose leading was with the Son, and the Ethiopian whose leading was with the Spirit. And there was no contradiction between the work of the Father and the work of the Son and the work of the Holy Spirit. No contradiction.
In the old testament there was Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we read about all three. The Father was the dominant personality in the old testament. Then Jesus came upon the scene, born of a woman, made of a woman, made under the law. And we read about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit even at his baptism but God said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear him. So in the days of Jesus, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the dominant one then was Jesus, hear him, listen to him. Then Jesus went back to the Father and promised the Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the apostles we have the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but it's the Spirit that's the dominant one today and we're living in the spirit age.
Comment:
Son of God – son of man
Mr. Propp states “He (Jesus) wasn't God, He was the Son of God.”
So, let us reason together:
If a man has a son, is that son any less human than his father?
NO!
If the Father (who is God) has a Son, is that Son any less God than His Father?
NO!
Another Comment:
God plus a god?
Mr. Propp states, “…if you look at the original of John 1:1, it says he was a god.”
Since we do not possess the original manuscript of John 1:1, let us reason together on this topic.
According to the Bible there is only ONE true God – so, if the “original” of John 1:1 said “a god,” as Mr. Propp asserts, was/is Jesus a true god or was/is he a false god?
And Our Final Comment:
Total harmony? – dominant?
Mr. Propp first states, “You see, they are one in the sense that they are in total harmony.”
Mr. Propp then states, “So in the days of Jesus, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the dominant one then was Jesus…”
So, let us reason together.
If Jesus’ claim that His Father and He “are one” merely meant that they were in total harmony, or in other words, in total agreement on everything, is there any logical manner within such total harmony in which one could possibly ‘dominate’ over the other at any time?
John 14: 28 (NIV) “If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”
So, in the days of Jesus, Jesus Himself said that the Father was at that very time “greater than I,” so in what sense could Jesus ‘dominate’ over the Father during His time on earth?
And if Mr. Propp is wrong to impute ‘dominance’ to Jesus during Jesus’ time on earth, is it not likely that Mr. Propp is also in error about a supposed ‘dominant’ Holy Spirit in his claimed present “spirit age?”
The ancient heresy called MODALISM:
“The other variety of monarchianism is called modalistic monarchianism or simply modalism. It resolves the mystery of the Trinity by viewing the three Persons as different modes of the one God; they are not distinct, individual Persons in the sense of orthodoxy. For the adoptionist, Christ is not really God at all, but an adopted man. For the modalist, he is not only God, he is the Father himself. Thus two dramatically different convictions are embraced by the same rather misleading designation, "monarchianism." What they have in common is their conviction that the fundamental unity and oneness of God does not permit a second Person to share the titles of deity. “
Heresies, by H.O.J. Brown, BOOK HOUSE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516, PAGE 96
Link to Book: "Putting Jesus in HIS Place"by Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski
Putting Jesus in His Place is designed to introduce Christians to the wealth of biblical teaching on the Deity of Christ and give them the confidence to share the truth about Jesus with others.
Book Review:
Devotionally, this book will dispel any notion that Jesus is our “big brother” (OR JUST A MERE MAN)--it will bring us back to a reverence for his Lordship that was practiced in the apostolic age. In other words, we pray and worship to the Creator of the universe and not a mere first-century demigod. The book is not monochromatic in its approach, the authors write,
Our aim is to provide a comprehensive case from the New Testament for the Deity of Jesus Christ. Many of us were taught that the Deity of Jesus can be proved using one or two verses—say, John 1:1 (“and the Word was God”) or John 20:28 (where Thomas calls Jesus, “My Lord and my God”). To be sure, we will say something about these important texts. But there is much more biblical evidence for Jesus’ deity.
The authors are pedagogically and apologetically minded for they have structured the content in five categories of evidence for the Deity of Christ with the acronym HANDS:
Honors: Jesus shares the honors due to God.
Attributes: Jesus shares the attributes of God.
Names: Jesus shares the names of God.
Deeds: Jesus shares in the deeds that God does.
Seat: Jesus shares the seat of God’s throne.
The book contains an appendix, “HANDS Review Tables” that summarize the evidence in the book. So once you read the book these “review tables’ in the appendix would be an excellent way to review these different categories of evidence for the Deity of Christ without having to go back and re-reading the entire book.
By Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
Another Review by Tom Gilson on this "AWESOME" book by Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski:
This book could be read as a devotional guide, lifting up the name of Christ; as a polemical guide, preparing the reader to argue the case for Christ's deity; or it could even be useful as a reference book--it is so clearly organized that whatever Biblical question you may have about Christ's deity, you'll be able quickly to find a Biblical answer.
But why should we have made such a big fuss over this? There is good reason: if Christ is God and we do not honor him as such, we defame the very nature and character of God. Jesus said that those who have seen him have seen the Father, and the book of Hebrews calls him the very image of God. If we deny Christ, we deny our King, Creator, and Lord.
Link to Book: "Slandering Jesus: Six Lies People Tell about the Man Who Said He Was God" By Erwin Lutzer
